Welcome Week Diary - Bryn Griffiths
Bryn Griffiths from Wrexham is a first year student studying a BSc in Geography. This is Bryn's Welcome Week diary to give you a taste of what life could be like during your first few days as a student at Bangor.
Sunday 23rd September
After saying goodbye to the majority of my family and some last minute packing, I left home bound for university, something I had been looking forward to since confirming it on results day. After collecting my key I visited the flat that I would call home for the next year of my life, and begun the rather lengthy task of unpacking my belongings! Through doing this I met all my new flatmates in the kitchen, and we cooked our first meal together. My Peer Guide then invited me out to a social event with my department (SENRGY) that night, which involved a pub crawl around Bangor, meeting people on my course. From this I met up with some old school friends and we decided to head back to their flat for card games and more alcoholic refreshment! Cue inevitable hangover the next day, judging by the fact I stumbled back into my flat at 4.30 a.m.
Monday 24th September
After setting my alarm for 8.30, I awoke in confusion, not really sure where I was – but it turned out to be my bathroom floor! Looking out the window, I could not see anything but rain, rain and more rain. I made my way over to the Main Arts Building (or Hogwarts, as everyone seems to call it), for the Vice Chancellor’s talk and to meet with my Peer Guide and fellow Geography students, getting thoroughly drenched in the process. We decided to quickly move to a local cafe to discuss university life, and what we could expect from it. Following this was a series of talks on my course and various schemes the university offered. My day rounded off with a trip to Morrison’s, to get the food I desperately needed. My flatmates and I opted to go out and see the local nightlife once more, and ended up in one of Bangor’s  largest clubs. We made our way back in the early hours, being handed toast on our way back up to the Ffriddoedd Site! I collapsed into bed once again at an unspeakable hour, to get what little sleep I could.
Tuesday 25th September
I had been booked in to meet my personal tutor at 10am on Tuesday morning, so I made my way to his office – quite successfully, only getting lost once! He explained how my course would work and which books from my reading list would be vital to purchase. After this, I had the rest of the day off, to have some rest! Some friends invited me over for a game of poker, and I obliged, loser cooking the meal for the night, which turned out to be me. Cooking my first real meal since leaving home proved to be a challenge, but my spaghetti bolognaise was cleared up dutifully by friends. We spent the evening in Bar Uno meeting plenty of new people, from all across the world including Finland, Spain and Argentina. We stayed till closing time, and trooped off to our beds at the end of the night, suitably merry and exhausted.
Wednesday 26th September
Another day begins in Bangor, and finally the rain has ceased! I take the time in the morning once Academic Registration is complete to walk around the town centre, meandering through Bangor’s distinctive town centre. The afternoon brings the arrival of Serendipity, the fair at which different societies attempt to get Freshers to join. I personally opted for Football, Handball, Tennis and GeogSoc (Geographic Society). Following this, I moved back down to the Thoday Building for talks on Plagiarism and Health and Safety, which were about as fun as they sound! The evening brought around a quiz in Bar Uno, which my team, made up of a Geography student, a Psychology student, an English student and two Law students managed to lose spectacularly! However it definitely proved to be a great way to meet new friends and talk to new people.
Thursday 27th September
After an early morning run to Morrison’s to stock up on supplies, I had a library tour for my school, followed by a social event (meant to be a beach trip, but Bangor’s unpredictable weather struck again) inside our main building. We returned to Serendipity, partly to look for other new societies but largely because of the freebies handed out – next years freshers take note! The lads in our group decided to go out and play football despite the rain, something we were pleasantly surprised at – Bangor’s wide range of sporting activities available. Myself and a few friends decided a night in would do us all good, as we hadn’t really stopped for the majority of Fresher’s. However, the inevitable happened, and we ended up in one of Bangor’s many pubs for the night’s football game.
Friday 28th September
A field trip run by the Geography department was the activity for me today, to the National Slate Museum and Electric Mountain. At the Slate Museum, the climbs up to the mines provided us with spectacular views of the surrounding area. Electric Mountain was very interesting, providing an insight into hydro-electric power sources in Wales, and one of the most impressive in the world. We made our way back on the coach, and prepared for a big night ahead of us – we had bought tickets for one of the largest Freshers events – Paint vs Foam in Embassy, one of the local nightclubs! This proved to be the best night of the week, involving us all getting thoroughly messy, and soaked through to our skin with a mixture of UV paint and foam. We rounded the evening off after showering with more card games and a takeaway – a perfect night!
Saturday 29th September
The Saturday brought football trials, and unfortunately another hangover! I was one of the steadiest members of our group however, just about managing not to fall over and keep a clear head. A four hour heavy workout ensued, the first real exercise I’d done for a few weeks, and by the end I was thoroughly exhausted – not even making the team after all this! We decided to spend the evening in together as a flat later that night, discussing Freshers, our courses and general chat! This finished with the first ever flat game of Twister, which I proved to be thoroughly terrible at, being about as flexible as a brick.
Sunday 30th September
Our final day of Freshers! Sunday morning was spent recovering closely followed by a visit to Wetherspoons, one of the places handing out vouchers for discounted food during Freshers week for Sunday lunch. It also happened to be my friend Chris’ birthday, so we celebrated in the usual way, cake and decorations throughout his flat. Being students, none of us had remembered any sellotape, meaning the decorations had to be put up using Post-It notes, something I would not advise to anyone! We then attended our first handball session as a group which proved to be excellent fun, and resulted in me being selected for the University team as a goalkeeper! To finish Freshers, Bar Uno held a Casino Night – which we attended, dressed in all of our finery. Starting with $1000 in chips, we all worked our way towards winning the top prize – a free meal a day for the rest of the semester at Bar Uno. The majority of us frittered it away, but keeping our nerve, a friend and myself remained until very late on, playing 3 card poker – our practising earlier on in the week had come out handy! I eventually finished with $21,000 – the highest overall total of the night! I was unbelievably happy – I didn’t have to rely on my terrible cooking skills for the rest of term and risk food poisoning! Finishing up with one final round of drinks, I settled in for the night, ready for my 9 a.m. lecture in Physical Geography..